What is Cyber Threat Intelligence? A New Threat Vector Rises.

Cyber threat intelligence (CTI) is a crucial component of modern cybersecurity. With cyber threats constantly evolving, CTI is a critical practice that allows organizations to gain visibility of threats from across the open, deep, and dark web as they emerge to make faster, more informed security decisions.

What is Cyber Threat Intelligence?

Cyber threat intelligence (CTI) collects, analyzes, and applies information about current and potential cyber threats. This intelligence helps organizations understand threats, including their nature, origins, and possible impacts. By leveraging this knowledge, organizations can proactively defend themselves against cyber-attacks and minimize risks. Typical use cases include Data Loss, Account Takeover Attacks, Brand and executive impersonation, Insider Threat, Third Party Risk, Vulnerability Management, and Attack Surface Management. 

However, a new threat vector that has recently emerged that is a gap in coverage of current cyber threat intelligence tools is narrative attacks. Organizations need to gain awareness of the harmful narratives impacting them, the networks they spread across, the threat actors behind them, the bots that scale them, and the hyper-agenda-driven threat actors, cohorts, and communities that influence and connect them to help organizations make better strategic decisions, especially in times of crisis. 

Narrative Attack use cases include: 

• Crisis events
• Cyber Attack (or fake cyber attack)
• Geopolitical Risk
• Financial Market Turbulence
• Stock Manipulation
• Brand Reputation and Cancelation
• Labor Relations
• Executive Targeting
• Physical Security
• Supply Chain & Critical Manufacturing 
• Insider Threat
• Environmental, Social, Governance
• M&A Due Diligence

By adding Narrative Intelligence to your cyber intelligence strategy, security teams are in the best position to protect their organization from outside threats.

To learn more about Narrative Attacks, visit what is a narrative attack?

The Cyber Threat Intelligence Cycle

The cyber threat intelligence cycle includes automating the process of transforming raw data into intelligence for decision-making and action. The goal is to guide a cybersecurity team through executing a successful threat intelligence program.

1. Planning

During the planning stage, the cybersecurity team will agree on the goals of the program and methodology based on the stakeholders’ needs. Goals may include:

·        Discovering who the attackers are and their motivations

·        What is the attack surface and the most likely narrative attack use cases that could impact the organization

·        What specific actions should be taken to strengthen defenses against future attacks

2. Data Collection

Data from as many sources from across the open, deep, and dark web (including social media, news, chat) is vital to actionable cyber threat intelligence. Practical threat intelligence requires raw data from various sources, including open-source intelligence (OSINT), human intelligence (HUMINT), technical intelligence, and internal threat feeds. The data collected can include indicators of compromise (IoCs), such as malicious IP addresses, domains, and file hashes, and a collection of social media, news or chat posts that turn into harmful narratives. As the threat data set increases, cyber threat intelligence will gain better knowledge of malicious threats.

3. Processing

Once raw data has been collected, it needs to be converted into a format suitable for analysis. This entails automation  of data points (leveraging AI and machine learning) into your threat intelligence database, decrypting files, translating information from foreign sources, and evaluating the data for reliability and relevance in your dashboard

4. Analysis

Once the data is collected, it must be processed and analyzed to identify patterns and trends. This phase involves using various AI and machine learning tools and techniques to correlate, interpret and prioritize the data to understand the most critical threats to your organization, transforming it into actionable intelligence.

5. Dissemination

The next step is sharing the intelligence with relevant stakeholders within the organization that is relevant and easy for them to understand. This can include security teams, IT staff, and executive leadership. Effective dissemination ensures that the intelligence is utilized to enhance the organization’s security posture. AI can now easily summarize threats to the organization so it is easier than ever to share with people across the organization. 

6. Feedback

A critical component of cyber threat intelligence involves receiving feedback on the reporting to determine whether adjustments are needed for future cyber threat intelligence operations. Goals and priorities can change and need to be factored in.

Learn more: How AI-Powered Bots are Reshaping Cyberwar

The Benefits of Cyber Threat Intelligence

Implementing cyber threat intelligence provides numerous benefits:

1. Proactive Defense

By understanding potential threats in advance, organizations can implement measures to prevent attacks before they occur. This proactive approach reduces the likelihood of successful breaches and reduces narrative risks that cause financial, operational and reputational harm.

2. Improved Incident Response

Cyber threat intelligence enables faster detection and response to incidents. Security teams can quickly identify the nature of an attack and take appropriate actions to mitigate its impact.

3. Enhanced Decision Making

With detailed intelligence, decision-makers can allocate resources more effectively and prioritize security efforts based on the most significant threats.

4. Narrative Risk Management

Narrative risk intelligence helps organizations assess their risk exposure and develop strategies to protect against these risks.

• Reduces complexity, discovery, and time to resolution of narrative analysis.
• Eliminates the need for deep technical skills to understand risk.
• Facilitates prioritization and review of narratives based on impact and risk.
• Provides easy-to-understand summaries and context-checked information.
• Highlights top posts, engagement metrics, and accounts driving the narrative.
• Easily shareable with management and executive teams.
• Enables deeper analysis of narratives with a few clicks 
• Helps you make better strategic decisions, especially in times of crisis.

Learn more: Unlocking the Power of Narrative Intelligence

Types of Cyber Threat Intelligence

The information obtained through cyber threat intelligence can be straightforward, like a malicious domain name. It can also be complex, like an in-depth profile of a known threat actor or a harmful narrative that starts to spin up across the internet, causing financial, operational, and reputational harm. Cyber threat intelligence can be categorized into four main types:

1. Strategic Threat Intelligence

This type of intelligence provides a high-level overview of the threat landscape. Senior management typically uses it to understand broader trends and inform long-term security strategies.

2. Tactical Threat Intelligence

Tactical intelligence focuses on the tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) that threat actors use. This type of intelligence is valuable for security teams to understand attackers’ methods and develop countermeasures.

3. Operational Threat Intelligence

Operational intelligence provides real-time information about ongoing attacks. It includes specific details about the attack methods, targeted systems, and indicators of compromise. This intelligence is crucial for incident response teams to combat active threats effectively.

4. Narrative Intelligence

Narrative intelligence protects against the new threat vector of narrative attacks. It enables organizations to gain awareness of the harmful narratives impacting them, the networks they spread across, the threat actors behind them, the bots that scale them, and the hyper-agenda-driven threat actors, cohorts, and communities that influence and connect them to help organizations make better strategic decisions, especially in times of crisis.

Sources of Cyber Threat Intelligence

Cyber threat intelligence sources are continuous streams of actional information on bad actors and threats. Cyber threat intelligence is derived from a variety of sources:

1. Open-Source Intelligence (OSINT)

Publicly available information, such as news articles, blog posts, and social media, can provide valuable insights into emerging threats.

2. Human Intelligence (HUMINT)

Information gathered from human sources, including insider reports and threat actor communications, can offer unique perspectives on potential threats.

3. Technical Intelligence

This includes data from technical sources such as malware analysis, network traffic analysis, and honeypots. Technical intelligence provides detailed information about attackers’ tools and techniques.

4. Internal Threat Feeds

Organizations can generate their threat intelligence by analyzing internal data, such as logs from security devices, to identify patterns and anomalies indicative of potential threats.

5. Narrative Intelligence 

Sources from across social media, the dark web, fringe websites, and traditional media in 25+ native languages. 

Learn more: Breaking Down Narrative Attacks

Best Practices for Cyber Threat Intelligence

To maximize the effectiveness of cyber threat intelligence, organizations should follow these best practices:

Integration with Security Operations

Cyber threat intelligence should be integrated into the organization’s security operations center (SOC) and incident response processes. This ensures that the intelligence is actionable and directly enhances security measures.

Continuous Monitoring and Updating

The threat landscape is constantly evolving, so monitoring and updating threat intelligence is essential. This involves regularly collecting and analyzing new data to stay ahead of emerging threats.

Collaboration and Information Sharing

Collaboration with other organizations and participation in threat intelligence-sharing communities can enhance the quality and scope of intelligence. Sharing information about threats helps build a more comprehensive understanding of the threat landscape.

Training and Awareness

Security teams should be trained to utilize cyber threat intelligence effectively. This includes understanding how to interpret intelligence reports, identify relevant threats, and take appropriate action.

Challenges in Cyber Threat Intelligence

Despite its benefits, implementing cyber threat intelligence can be challenging:

Data Overload

The vast amount of data generated can be overwhelming. Organizations need practical tools and processes to filter and prioritize relevant intelligence.

False Positives

Not all indicators of compromise are indicative of actual threats. Distinguishing between false positives and genuine threats requires careful analysis and validation.

Resource Constraints

Developing and maintaining a robust cyber threat intelligence program requires significant resources, including skilled personnel and advanced tools.

Narrative Risks

A new threat vector cyber threat intelligence does not cover is narrative attacks and is a blind spot. Organizations need employ narrative intelligence to enable them to gain awareness of the harmful narratives impacting them, the networks they spread across, the threat actors behind them, the bots that scale them, and the hyper-agenda-driven threat actors, cohorts, and communities that influence and connect them to help organizations make better strategic decisions, especially in times of crisis. 

Modernize Your Cybersecurity Strategy

Cyber threat intelligence is an essential component of modern cybersecurity strategies. Organizations can proactively defend against attacks, improve incident response, and make informed decisions by collecting, analyzing, and applying information about cyber threats. Despite the challenges, the benefits of implementing a comprehensive cyber threat intelligence that includes a narrative intelligence program are clear. Organizations that invest in cyber threat intelligence are better equipped to navigate the complex and ever-evolving threat landscape.

By understanding and utilizing narrative intelligence embedded in cyber threat intelligence, organizations can stay ahead of cyber adversaries and protect their critical assets and the financial, operational and reputational impact from potential threats.

Stop narrative attacks before they impact you. Blackbird.AI was founded to empower trust, safety, and integrity across the global information ecosystem. Our Constellation Narrative Intelligence Platform identifies key narratives that impact your organization/industry, the influence behind them, the networks they touch, the anomalous behavior that scales them, and the cohorts and communities that connect them. This information enables organizations to proactively understand narrative threats as they scale and become harmful for better strategic decision-making. See a demo of our Constellation Platform and learn how we protect the world’s leading organizations.